Launch of the EnerSHelF Website

Energy Supply for Healthcare Facilities in Ghana: Announcing the EnerSHelF website

We are pleased to announce the launch of the website of the EnerSHelF project. This is an interdisciplinary German-Ghanaian project of political economists, engineers and partners from the private renewable energies sector. EnerSHelF deals with the sustainable and reliable energy supply for healthcare facilities in Ghana, and the International Centre for Sustainable Development (IZNE) is involved in the project as lead partner.

The healthcare sector in Ghana is particularly burdened by the high energy costs and recurring power outages resulting from the lack of electricity supply. EnerSHelF aims to show that photovoltaic (PV) power can not only contribute to strengthening the Ghanaian national energy system, but do so in a sustainable, cost effective way. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research under the CLIENT II - International Partnerships for Sustainable Innovation" scheme.

The project brings together experts from 11 organizations in industry, the technical disciplines and social sciences to improve and disseminate marketable PV based energy solutions for health facilities in Ghana. Having begun in June of 2019, the project will continue for a 3-year period at three sites with different regional characteristics. What distinguishes the approach of EnerSHelF is its interdisciplinary and context specific design. Collaboration between technical disciplines (engineering and natural sciences) and social sciences (development economics) allows the project to gain an integrative understanding of the interplay between the institutional and technological transition in the health-energy nexus. In particular, this deals with the question of how the interaction between the development and dissemination of technological solutions and the specific institutional and political-economic country context works.

Additionally, the close cooperation between Ghanaian and German stakeholders will form the cornerstone of ensuring the implementation of results. The creation of a framework of stakeholder engagement, transfer and dissemination in which the technologies and their adoption are tailored to local factors will enable context specific, use of PV energy solutions and so help in energizing Africa’s future. As an important catalyst for sustainable development, access to a reliable source of clean energy is vital for inclusive economic development, improved human health, wellbeing and security.